How art is classified according to culture is an important issue to Hsu who believes stereotypes of what a particular culture will produce need to be broken down.
One common notion that Hsu wants to rid the art world of is the idea that an artist's work is inseparable from their nationality.
"Just because this artist is from Iraq, then everything he does has to do with Iraq — this, for me, doesn't really make sense," he said. "When a Western artist exhibits in a professional exhibition, normally the exhibition will not mention the locality [where the ideas are formed] and I feel this is more questionable."
"Some artists are really conscious of their local history and some artists work on more formalistic issues inside art history so the idea of locality [is] relevant to artists in different ways, no matter if it is Western [or] Eastern."
The relevance of national history, borders and educational background is, Hsu believes, becoming less important. The question facing institutions is: can they react quickly enough?
Part of reacting to and participating in the social environment — whether global or local — involves formulating theories that help people understand the processes of change. For the biennial held earlier this year in Liverpool, Hsu developed an idea that shows how art can rejuvenate public spaces. Known as "archipuncture" it reveals how artwork in the public realm is connected to the energy flow of the city through its placement at particular points.
"Archipuncture for me ... provide[s] a perspective of how art can be related to the urban condition. Instead of just something that you look at … art also brings new energy flows to the place where it is exhibited. And this kind of new energy can be related to the health of the city," he said. Hsu makes it clear that this idea can be applied to any city throughout the world.
The exhibit at MOCA, in a similar manner to the 2006 Liverpool Biennial, involves both a global and local perspective. The title of the exhibit is meant to explore the contemporary mode of existence where anti-terrorism, border control and the gradual erosion of due process has stripped many citizens of their political rights and legal protections. The concepts embodied in Naked Life should have particular resonance for Taiwanese because of the country's forty-year history of martial law.
Naked Life is an attempt to raise awareness of global issues in a local context that moves beyond the cynicism of the polarizing politics that Hsu claims pervades Taiwan .
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